To travel you do not have to wait for the time you go on vacation. Even on a workweek, there is a time for a trip. To diversify your weekends and to get new impressions and emotions you can make a fantastic trip embracing our programme "short breaks".

Take your friends or family, choose up to three cities you want to visit and make a fabulous journey. In this weekend tour, you can stay for a one or two nights in the places you have chosen. You can be on excursions exploring and admiring the cities during the whole day and enjoy breathtaking views of the places recollecting bright moments of your trip at night. From dawn till night you will be able to see how the cities and everything around you change. Morning day will present the architecture and the landscape in sunlight glory while night will show transformed buildings and streets sinking in illumination.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to souvenirs from Russia? Of course, it is matryoshka, balalaika, vodka and caviar. Oh, and a hat with ear flaps as well! However, the ear flap hat is now in vogue, and has ceased to be such a rarity, vodka can be bought almost anywhere in the world.

Numerous souvenir shops are vying to sell magnets, mugs and T-shirts with slogans and thematic images (flag and coat of arms of Russia, funny sayings, bears, portraits of politicians and well-known writers), sailor's striped vests, as well as handicrafts. Khokhloma, Gzhel, enamel, birch amulets and Vologda lacework… the assortment is huge! But when you make purchases, don’t lower your guard.
Some unscrupulous sellers may try to sell you cheaper and substandard imitations. Of course, most of the shops have certificates for their goods and buy them directly from factories and workshops.
To help you not to get lost in all this colorful variety and tell how and where it is better to buy particular products, we have prepared separate articles for you on Russian folk crafts.

It makes sense to look for more valuable and rare souvenirs in antique shops.
Old coins, porcelain figurines of the Soviet era, icons, clocks, badges, decorations - one does not know where to look first!
But even here there are potential pitfalls. Apart from the fact that the seller may seriously inflate the price of what you want to buy, arguing that it is older or more valuable than it really is, there may be problems taking it out of the country.

As of today, it is prohibited to take any items of cultural value (books, figurines, icons, pictures, etc.), created prior to January 1, 1964 out of the country.

Important note: items of cultural value do not include cultural goods of serial and mass production, or modern souvenirs.

However, sometimes even an item of mass production manufactured over fifty years ago may attract the close attention of the customs service. If you want to protect yourself from unforeseen delays and undesired proceedings (the item is likely to stay with you, which, alas, cannot be said of your nerve cells), you can send the purchase to your own address by mail, after packing it carefully to avoid damage. Make sure that the package has a warning sign if the item is fragile.

Are you a little confused with all this information? Our team members are always ready to help you navigate all the rules, addresses, products and prices!

You will definitely find something to your liking and within your budget with all the variety of great Russian souvenirs!

A Bright Piece of the Golden Ring. Vologda

Tour of Vologda, a city on the Volga River, one of the few cities where the Kremlin has been preserved until present days. A visit to the world's only Lacework Museum, and the largest gift shop which includes Vologda souvenirs, traditional products and alcoholic beverages. Countryside tour around the sacred land of Kirillov and Ferapontovo, a visit to the picturesque, poetic ensemble of the Ferapontov Convent with paintings of Dionysius, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Meeting tourists of all arrivals in the railway station in Vologda, starting from 05:00 am!

Hotel check-in. Breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

Bus tour of New Year's Eve Vologda with a visit to the active Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery .

A Vologda Tour is the opportunity to enjoy the historic center of the city, its ancient white stone cathedrals and temples, see the magnificent St. Sophia Cathedral and the complex of the Vologda Kremlin, the ensembles of wooden mansions, and, of course, the carved palisade; visit a Vologda's quiet and cozy yard, where you can drop by the center of artistic crafts "A Carved Palisade"; hear amazing stories of the past and present of Vologda. During the tour, you will visit the active Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, one of the oldest outposts of Russia in the north, founded in 1371. Over the centuries, the monastery was one of the most revered shrines of the Russian north, a center of the spiritual enlightenment and culture. The monastery is the tomb of the local poet Batiushkov.

And then waiting for the guests is the first and the world's only Lacework Museum, a real treasure house of lacework, which brings together lacework from around the world and lacework patterns, but much of the museum is dedicated to Vologda's lacework. A visit to the Museum will give you an opportunity to see works of Vologda's lacework masters that has glorified the Vologda Region, more than any other craft. In the Lacework Museum you can visit the shop selling lacework and linen products.

Lunch in one of the city's restaurants with folklore program (musical interactive program based on popular folk songs and traditions of Vologda).

Visit to Vologda Souvenirs, the largest gifts shop that combined beneath the same roof all the reaches of the folk artisan craft of the Vologda Oblast. It includes fine lacework, nice linen, wood painting, niello, enamel, filigree, and more, as well as the worldwide famous Vologda butter, confectionery and alcoholic beverages of Vologda enterprises.

Spare time. The New Year is around the corner.

If you are accustomed to expect fairy tales and miracles from New Year's Eve, you will certainly take a walk around the nighttime Vologda. Magical New Year's decoration of Vologda create joyful New Year's Eve mood.

You can joyfully and cheerfully celebrate New Year's Eve in one of the city's restaurants. New Year's Eve dinner waits for you with Ded Moroz and Snegurochka along with delicious food, rich entertainment program with cheerful competitions and unexpected surprises, with songs and dances (for an extra charge).

2nd Day

Late breakfast. Free day. For an extra charge a suburban bus tour to the village of Sizma (110 km) is offered.

(Booking and payment for additional trips must be done in advance, ie before the start of the tour. The price of the tour is 2100 rubles per person.)

Sizma is an indigenous corner of the Vologda region, an ancient Russian village, where Slavic customs, rituals and traditions are still carefully preserved. It’s a kind of epicenter of a small island of an old Russian culture. Guests are always greeted warmly, offered tasty treats, fun, entertainment, enthusiastically told the history of the village and its relics. Sizma's most important miracle is that much of the grandfathers' heritage is still kept here. What is most surprising is that even the language itself has not changed; the Sizma dialect is preserved in its original form from the middle of the XVII century. Hospitality has always been and remains the typical feature of the local residents. Everyone who visits hospitable Sizma can feel the cordiality of reception and treats.

Like in the old days in Sizma dear guests are welcomed according to the Russian tradition, with an icon, bread, and salt.

Visit the church of St. Nicholas. Excursion to the "Village's History Museum" and the "Museum of the Linen." The exhibits of these museums allow you to imagine a centuries-long age old way of peasant life in the Russian north, touch the cradle of the national culture.

Visit to the museum "The Russian Log Hut". A Peasant's log hut is a symbol of Russia; it has always been and remains the most common housing for peasants in Russia. The museum features recreated by local craftsmen with grate precision the interior of a typical home of the northern peasants of XIX -XX centuries.

Russian dinner in a guest cottage, the interior of which resembles a folk museum: a Russian stove, an icon in the corner, benches along the walls and tables covered with homespun rugs, antique copper and clay utensils. And on the tables there is rustic food, cooked in the Russian stove according to ancient recipes of Sizma: a cabbage soup, potatoes, cakes, and tea. Adults taste home-brewed beer, which has been accompanying every holiday for centuries and is brewed according to an old local recipe.

Folk-style gaming festive program. Joyful Russian folk games and fun, round dance, noise, dance to a cheerful accordion ... And in the village street, in a pure frosty air with the sun sparkling on the snow you can ride the village swing and sled down a hill.

Return to Vologda

3 Day

Breakfast. Check-out.

Departure to the city Kirillov. Part of the trip will take place on the territory of the national park "Russian North", created to preserve the wondrous beauty of the Region with its unique historical and cultural complex. Countryside tour around the land sacred for every Orthodox Christian will allow you to connect with the treasury of the Russian history and culture, to see the greatest works of ancient art, visit unique monuments and museums, plunge into the unique magnificence of the northern nature, where the air itself is saturated with peace and serenity. The beginning of “Northern Thebaid” was marked by monks from Moscow Cyril and Ferapont. In a remote corner of the forest they founded in late XIV century the Cyril Belozersky and Ferapontov monasteries.

Visiting the St. Cyril-Belozersky Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve. The Cyril-Belozersky monastery is one of the remarkable great ensembles of the Old Russian architecture, one of the three "great tsar's strongholds." For a long time it was recognized as a great spiritual, educational and cultural center of the Russian state.

Dinner. Trip to the village of Ferapontovo (19 km).

Visit to the Ferapontov Convent. The Ferapontov Convent is, first of all, a sacred place of the region of Belozersk. The convent, founded in 1398, for almost four centuries was one of the leading cultural, religious and educational centers in the region of Belozersk. The complex of the monuments of the Ferapontov Convent with paintings of Dionysius is the only one that remains intact since the early XVI century in Russia. The paintings in the convent are the “swan song" of Dionysius' art. Fresco painting of the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral of the Ferapontov Convent has never been renewed, and it carries only the marks of the centuries past. The picturesque, poetic ensemble of the Ferapontov Convent with paintings of Dionysius is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Closer look at Dionysus's frescoes in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God, under favorable weather conditions - for an extra charge)

Return to Vologda. Transfer to the train station.

Children are allowed from 5 years of age or older.

The price includes: accommodation, dining, excursions and transportation services according to the program (minibus for groups of 18 or less, bus for groups of more than 18 people), meeting in the railway station, guide's services.

Note: The Company reserves the right to modify the program without changing the scope of the services provided. In case of late arrival or no-show the Company reserves the right to modify the sequence of the program without changing the scope of the services provided. The duration of the program’s individual elements can be changed on the eve of the departure or during the tour. Elements of the program dependent on climatic conditions or actions of authorities and organizations beyond the control of the organizer (traffic, local administration, etc.), can be excluded from the program, according to the actual situation on the route. In case of late arrival or no-show of the tourists at the place of the meeting of the group at the specified time, the company is not liable for the fulfillment of the entire program and the payment for the tour day in question is not refundable.